New Law To Protect Buyers

August 14, 1992

A new state law combined with a home inspection will help ensure homebuyers are getting what they want in a home.

Matt Crawford, president of the Williamsburg Area Association of Realtors and owner of Crawford Properties Limited, a residential real estate brokerage company, believes a new law that requires sellers to disclose any known defects in a property to a buyer, will help better protect homebuyers.

Crawford is the vice chairman on the legislative committee of the Virginia Association of Realtors. The committee reviews all of the bills coming before the General Assembly and chooses which ones to endorse or oppose.

The committee took part in pushing through House Bill 1094 this year. The bill requires mandatory seller disclosure.

The law will come into effect July 1, 1993. Developing a suitable form and wording for disclosures is causing the delay, Crawford says.

Before the passage of the bill, Virginia was one of the few states that held to ``caveat emptor'' or let the buyer beware. When the bill goes into effect, sellers will be required to disclose any known defects in the house.

For example, if the owner knew that the roof was in need of repair but did not disclose this before closing, the seller would most likely be liable when it was discovered.

In most cases where defects are not disclosed, buyers will be able to sue the seller to take the house back or sue for damages.

``This does not excuse the buyer from looking at the property and checking out the property,'' Crawford says. ``The seller is not responsible for technical problems that the average person would not know about.''